Losing weight requires that you burn a greater number of calories than you consume. Therefore, the workouts that will be the most effective for facilitating your weight loss endeavors would be the ones that burn the greatest number of calories. Keep in mind that exercising alone will not cause weight loss. You need to also make healthy nutritional decisions so that you’re taking in an appropriate number of calories per day.

Running

Running is the most efficient exercise for burning calories, according to Mayo Clinic. The number of calories you’ll burn depends on how much you weigh, your running pace, and the duration of your workout session. In a 60-minute running workout, a 160-pound person will burn 606 calories if running 5 miles per hour or 861 calories if running at 8 miles per hour. Those who weigh more will burn more calories per minute.

Swimming

The American Council on Exercise lists swimming as one of the most efficient calorie burning activities. A 160-pound person will burn about 10.3 calories per minute, or 618 in 60 minutes, of swimming at a moderate pace and using the crawl technique. Swimming at a faster pace will burn more calories per minute.

Strength Training

Although strength training doesn’t burn many calories while you’re participating in the activity, consistently participating in it can make a significant positive impact on overall calories burned. According to the American Council on Exercise, strength training increases the number of calories burned, because the process that occurs to build muscle requires a lot of calories as fuel. As a result, your metabolic rate will be elevated, and thus you’ll burn more calories, following strength training sessions.

High Intensity Circuit Workouts

High-intensity circuit workouts feature many different types of activities. For example, you could sprint for 30 seconds, and then move right into jump rope, then into a set of pushups, and so on. You move from one activity to the next with little or no rest. Typically, the workouts are shorter because of the high intensity. The number of calories you burn during the actual training session depends on what types of activities you perform. However, higher intensity exercise causes your metabolic rate to be elevated even after your workout. According to Dr. Elisabet Borsheim of the Norweigian University of Sport and Physical Education, brief intermittent bouts of exhaustive high- intensity exercise elevates post-exercise energy expenditure for four hours, while those who participate in traditional cardiovascular activity have their metabolic raised for just 35 minutes after training. This means that you’ll be burning more calories throughout the day even when you’re resting, thus supporting weight loss.

About the Author

Kim Nunley has been screenwriting and working as an online health and fitness writer since 2005. She’s had multiple short screenplays produced and her feature scripts have placed at the Austin Film Festival. Prior to writing full-time, she worked as a strength coach, athletic coach and college instructor. She holds a master's degree in kinesiology from California State University, Fullerton.